Data protection for programme makers

As part of our Mind your business strand, we're offering training in a range of areas related to business management & development, production finance, legal & business affairs, rights, and compliance, giving individuals the tools needed to thrive in their chosen field in unscripted TV. 

This session will cover the key aspects of UK data protection law that apply to TV production. It will introduce basic data protection concepts and explain how they relate to TV production, summarise the most appropriate ‘lawful bases’ that producers can look to when processing data, cover the essential data protection documents that should be put in place when a programme is made, touch on the events that can trigger liability under data protection law (including subject access and erasure requests and data breaches) and summarise the ‘journalism exemption’ and how it can help.

Who it's for

This session is for anyone involved in unscripted TV production, from members of the programme team – either on the ground or in production – to in house legal and compliance advisers. It assumes no prior knowledge of data protection law.

The majority of the USF online short course offering is for those at early career stage and above. As a result, we generally require applicants to have at least 3 credits (unless working in a traditionally uncredited role). If you strongly feel you would still benefit from the training, please email USF@screenskills.com so we can assess if an exception should be made.

We are committed to ensuring all our courses are accessible to everyone. This course is designed to be as interactive as possible. Please email the above address if you have any access requirements and we will be delighted to help, be that clarifying the form such interaction is likely to take or discussing reasonable adjustments.

Speaker

Paul Schaefer is a senior content lawyer at Abbas Media Law where he advises on a broad range of television content across all genres.  Paul has particular experience in data protection law and routinely advises on complex data protection issues in a television context but advises on all areas of content law (including defamation, privacy, contempt and copyright). 

How to apply

This session will take place online via Zoom. Click ‘apply now’ at the top of the page and follow the instructions to apply for your place: you must login or register before you are able to complete your application.

If you need additional support to complete your application or require the application form in an alternative format please contact USF@screenskills.com

Places on these free online courses are limited and applications are often highly competitive. To stand the best chance of securing a place, please be sure to consider the following:

• When asked to list your three most recent credits, please include the programme title and your job role.
• When asked what you hope to gain from the course, please be concise but ensure you cover the specific elements of the topic you would like to gain knowledge of and what gaps in your skillset you believe the course may address. A rewording of the course title or a general comment on career progression does not tell us much about how this course would benefit you.

If you are no longer able to attend, we ask you to please use the “decline ticket” function on the right hand side of the page so that we can release your place. Our sessions are often oversubscribed, so we’d like to give other freelancers the opportunity to fill available spots. Thank you for your consideration.

This session is supported by the ScreenSkills Unscripted TV Skills Fund which invests in training for the unscripted workforce thanks to contributions from broadcasters, SVoDs and production companies.

This course would normally cost participants to attend, but thanks to this support, we are able to offer it to you for free. If you fail to attend, we reserve the right to request reimbursement of costs, unless your place can be taken by someone else.